Poland To Boost Defense On Border With Belarus By 500 More Troops - Interior Ministry

WARSAW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2021) Poland will send 500 more soldiers to guard the border with Belarus, the Minister of Internal Affairs and Administration Mariusz Kaminski said on Monday.

"An additional 500 soldiers will be deployed to the border (with Belarus)," the minister told reporters.

On August 18, Polish authorities deployed 1,000 troops to the country's border with Belarus amid an influx of illegal migrants. In late August, Poland announced that it started to build a fence at the border in an attempt to stop the illegal migration.

On Friday, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Warsaw expects the migration crisis on the border with Belarus to get worse, and is ready to reinforce and protect the frontiers.

The Polish official added that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko "turned migration into a weapon."

Lately, Lithuania, Latvia and Poland have reported an increase in the number of people illegally crossing the border from Belarus and accused Minsk of contributing to the migration crisis. Since the start of September, Poland is said to have recorded over 1,700 illegal attempts to enter the country from the neighboring state. In response, the Polish president has declared a state of emergency at border regions, deploying army and police forces to the area.

Minsk has consistently said it can no longer suppress migrant flows to the neighboring nations due to Western sanctions imposed on Belarus.